Any fans of The Blind Side?

[HoodooMan]

Just in case you didn't know the movie based on the book was coming out soon, I'm sharing my pain here:



Sandra Bullock's digitally-altered physique is the only thing about that poster that isn't horrifying.

[e0y2e3]

Saw the trailer for the first time at The Informant w/ a group of guys that had all read the book.

We all were equally pissed.

Pfft.

[Triple-S]

If I not mistaken I hear that that the book is auctually a decent read per..KSK:

Michael Lewis’ “The Blind Side” was a captivating book tracing the rise of the left tackle position’s outsize importance in the modern NFL game and how that evolution had far-reaching enough influence that it could lift up a kid, who happens to be Ravens’ rookie Michael Oher, who would otherwise fall prey to poverty simply because he possesses a rare combination of physical gifts. It carefully and thoughtfully touched on sensitive themes of race and class largely without resorting to cheap ham-fisted sentiment. It also made Nick Saban look like a dick, which is nice.

http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/200 ... nutes.html

However I did hear something along the lines of Oher auctually getting into trouble at ole miss and that the family had some motives behind taking him in?

[Guest]

Solid book. Can't imagine it being turned into a movie in any other fashion than the way the trailer makes it look.

[Guest]

Trailer looks sappy.

But early buzz has Sandra Bullock possibly getting an Oscar nod for this, so maybe it's a little more substantial than how it's being shown for the ADHD crowd watching NFL Sunday Ticket (gotta come up with a hook to stop people from turning over to RedZone every timeout...like I do).

[leadpipe]

One of the strengths of the book was detailing the immergence of the left tackle position. Dealing with LT etc.

Hollywood will sensationalize what they do cover, and do their usual job of ruining anything non-fiction.

I loved the book. The movie looks hhhhooooooorrrriiiibbbbllllleeeee.

I'll pass on the campy lines Sandra, thanks.

[TIMMAH]

and here I thought we were going to be discussing the band Blindside.

[peeker643]

The book was really good. The LT (left tackle and Lawrence Taylor apply) discussion actually opens the reading.

I thought the recruiting sections were the best. How these mothers drool over Nick Saban who can talk either ghetto or Italian drapes and tile with equal aplomb and how Phillip Fulmer is ridiculed, even by other southerners.

Just classic stuff.

The family that adopted the kid was wealthy. They had no real ulterior motives that the author ever discovered. Dude became a legit member of the family and he's dead now if not for that fact.

Read the book. No need for the movie.

[Ziner]

I agree with the sentiment, thought the book was very good. I will probably see the movie eventually just to see how it compares but I dont see myself going to the theatre, I'll hold off.

[CAVSTRIBEBROWNSin07!]

Great book. I dove into reading it not knowing it was an actual story about an actual person; rather thought it would be some sort of timeline / explanation of how the LT position came to be the 2nd highest paid position in football.

I read it when it first came out, and thus followed Michael Oher's college career with great interest and anticipation for when and if he'd make it in to the NFL.

But as so often happens, my favorite college players get drafted by the teams I hate the most (Troy Smith, Jordan Farmar, Santonio Holmes etc.).

[TIMMAH]

I refuse to see a movie about a guy who plays for the Ravens.

[Guest]

Very, very good movie, even if it is a bit predictable at times.

[motherscratcher]

Very, very good movie, even if it is a bit predictable at times.

Did Sandy show anything during her sex scene with Oher? I'm assuming there was some steamy stuff going on there, right? I mean, she is at the point of her career where she has to consider going "Tomei". Am I wrong?

[Ziner]

Very, very good movie, even if it is a bit predictable at times.

Mitch, did you read the book? Just wondering how it compares.

[e0y2e3]

Ziner hit on the million dollar question.

Calling this a good movie w/out reading the book is akin to calling I am Legend of Friday Night Lights a good movie.

Both were meh spin off from great books that left out the larger points behind said writings.

Friday Night Lights is the only time I can even remember a TV show destroying a movie in terms of being a viable replication of the original product.

[Guest]

Reading the book is totally irrelevant to the enjoyment of a movie.

Which is why I can say that the Twilight movies suck rotten eggs, despite the 40 something women and teenage girls who live and die by it. Don't care about the books...just going by the movie on its own...which was as weak as an Eric Mangini excuse.

It was a great story, and it even held up when I got home and fact checked the "events"...and pretty much everything they put in was true, even if they did compress a few events for time's sake (the meeting in the rain/cold did occur as described, but Oher didn't start spending nights for another several days).

The movie is focused on the true story of Oher and the Touhy family. I enjoyed how it was made, and then researched the fact that it was more accurate than 95% of the "true" sports movies put out (see also; "Invincible" and "The Express").

The fact that the events were pulled from a book of the same name that had a different audience in mind, and a different purposed (going into great technical detail of the fine points of LT play) has zero to do with the quality of the film.

EDIT: Let me expand on this a bit.

If the book had been a great piece of fiction, and the movie used the same name, characters, and plot, and then totally hashed things around...then I'd agree with you that the book WAS completely relevant.

If the book had been a piece of non-fiction, and then the movie was a fictionalized account that went off in a different direction..then I'd agree with you (like "Friday Night Lights").

But in this case, your only complaint is that they ignored half of the book. I understand that...but it does not diminish the intent of the movie, nor the positive manner in which they told the true story of Michael Oher

[dmiles]

I quite enjoyed this movie. As I've mentioned many times my kid is at the school where Brian Sipe was head coach up until this year. Our boosters rented out the theater so all of the football players were invited. Additionally we invited the team from another school, as they were quite welcoming of our team this year after one of our football players was killed in car accident mid-season. They went the extra mile to honor our passed away kid, so someone privately rented the whole theater, and invited that team to come to the film. Pretty awesome stuff really.

Back to the movie though, it's just one of those stories you have to love. My son didn't want to go as he saw Sandra Bullock and assumed it was a chick-flick (which in the world of a 15 year old kid is probably true, it's all he knows).

I actually have not read the book, so based on recommendations I'll give it a whirl, but the movie is pretty moving on it's own as Mitch so eloquently points out. As a side note my freshman son who was starting RT on JV, now realizes he might have been a rung under the LT, as Sandra does a good job narrating that at the beginning of the movie. I never told him that LT was more important, hell I was just happy to see him scrapping against older d-lineman, but maybe he'll work a little harder. For a kid that doesn't say much his first words were "that was inspiring". Of course kids are not movie critics, I understand that, but film is such a powerful medium to tell a great story. (we run wing-T, and hardly pass so maybe it isn't as important)

One more thing that made the night for me, was sitting in front of me was a dad with his black son. Now I've never asked, but I can only assume he's adopted, I mean, I can't see how it's his kid unless there was a previous marriage but I don't think that's the case. At end of the movie that boy is leaning forward wiping tears from his eyes, and realistically most of the boys that age are not the types to shed a tear, not in front of their peers. Good scene.

[e0y2e3]

So I saw this w/ some friends and meh.

It was okay, nice story, but a bunch of pretty flowers and rainbows and told in a movie-esque manor where every emotion is pushed to extremes and corny is the in acting methodology. Nice story, probably real good to watch w/ kids, etc, but a flowery rendition of even the story aspect of the book, which I assumed was coming.

Don't get me wrong though, Hollywood puts out far worse than this movie on a regular basis. I just expect the pretty stoopid list of Dec releases to make this a quick afterthought and it was smart to release it when they did.

[olecowboy]

"told in a movie-esque manor. . ."


yeah, they probably should have told it in a regular tudor manor. . .

[e0y2e3]

"told in a movie-esque manor. . ."


yeah, they probably should have told it in a regular tudor manor. . .

You know OC, no one here needs another internet comedian!

[olecowboy]

yeah, I get that a lot. . .

[e0y2e3]

yeah, I get that a lot. . .

"The Vapor Trail of Posters....."

[olecowboy]

no, the ninja of posters - "Looked for, he cannot be seen; Listened for, he cannot be heard; Reached for, he cannot be touched. . ."

[e0y2e3]

I like that far better than something Skree coined anyhow.

Solid OC, solid.

[HoodooMan]

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=149&f=1769

[pup]

Saw it Saturday. It was nice.